Chapter 179 Guilty Feelings

Having been ill for more than half a month, Yinzhen had not rested for a single day. It took him seven or eight days to fully recover, but he could tell on his own without even needing the imperial physician to examine his pulse. This long illness had left his body quite depleted, the simplest manifestation of which was that he was more easily fatigued than usual.

Su Peisheng received the emperor's order to summon the Taoist priest to the palace. He lowered his eyes and seriously agreed. Then, as if chatting casually, he suddenly said, "That Lady Zhen has committed suicide. Today is the seventh day after her death. Your Majesty should have Baohua Hall arrange a Buddhist ceremony."

Yinzhen frowned and looked at him—"A ritual? I still want to perform a ritual for her?"

Su Peisheng chuckled awkwardly, touching his nose slightly. "Yes, yes, this servant misunderstood. This servant heard from Imperial Physician Zhou Qi that this Lady Zhen was carrying twins. Now, three are gone... what's going on..."

"Twins?" Yinzhen paused slightly as he flipped through the memorials, his expression becoming somewhat stagnant.

Seeing that he had taken it to heart, Su Peisheng stopped talking.

"Twins..." There was no one else in the hall at the moment. Hongzhao had gone to practice riding and archery with his thirteenth and fourteenth uncles. Yinzhen kept muttering these two words to himself.

He still remembers how overjoyed he was when the Empress gave birth to Hongzhao and Hongjin. If Zhen Huan had entered the palace pregnant and given birth to the children, and he had twins at over fifty, he would surely have felt the same joy.

Who knows, she might even be promoted. These two children will inevitably take away a lot of his love and attention. As for Hongzhao and Hongjin, the two children he has practically raised with all his heart and soul, he will have to watch helplessly as his father loves the other children the same way he loves him. The key point is that these children don't even have any of his bloodline.

Yinzhen felt his thoughts were in complete disarray. He cherished the child with the stain of mixed bloodlines, while Hongzhao stood pitifully to the side, looking on with grievance. Just thinking about this possibility made Yinzhen feel as if something was blocking his heart. He couldn't breathe and couldn't swallow the choking sensation in his chest. In his discomfort, he picked up the teacup on the table and gulped down two mouthfuls.

"Cough... Su Peisheng!" His voice was hoarse with a cough, his tone indignant and urgent—"Go and deliver the imperial decree: Prince Guo accidentally fell and injured his leg last night. Although he has made a grave mistake, I still care about our brotherhood and have specially bestowed upon him a pair of snake-patterned canes, ordering him to carry them with him every day."

Su Peisheng's eyes flickered, and he naturally understood what the Emperor meant. In an instant, he had already figured out how Prince Guo had "accidentally" happened. Just as he was about to bow and agree, he heard the Emperor say something else.

"Go to the storeroom and find some nice things to send to Hongzhao and Hongjin... never mind." He hesitated after saying that—"Go pick out some jewelry for Hongjin; she's at the age where she loves to dress up. Also, go and pick out some exquisite Western items to send to the princess. Hongzhao..."

It's no wonder he hesitated. Whenever something new was sent to the palace, Hongzhao always received the best of everything, so there really wasn't anything new to pick out.

Thinking of this, Yinzhen chuckled, a hint of smugness on his face—"Go and bring that boy over. I'll ask him myself what he wants."

...

"Is Third Brother also going to the Hall of Mental Cultivation?"

Hongzhao followed Su Peisheng back, and on the way they encountered the Third Prince, whose face was beaming with joy. They walked straight past him without even noticing him. Hongzhao found it interesting that his Third Brother was like this, so he called out to him.

Hearing the voice behind him, Hongshi quickly turned around, took two steps forward, and grabbed Hongzhao's hand—"Fifth Brother! Huiyi is pregnant! I'm going to be a father!"

Hongzhao looked at his third brother, whose cheeks were flushed and whose eyes were sparkling. In fact, his emotions were very easy to understand, like an LED seven-color display screen, waiting to be scrolled.

He cooperated by showing a delighted look, and shook Hongshi's hand hard twice—"That's great, I'm going to be an uncle too! Go tell Father Emperor quickly, and make him happy too!"

Seeing this, Su Peisheng stood to the side, his face full of wrinkles from smiling, and echoed repeatedly, "Yes, yes, there is good news in the palace. The Third Prince is the Emperor's first grandson. The Emperor will surely be happy to hear this."

Watching his third brother's light and agile figure, a name inexplicably popped into Hongzhao's mind—Jiang Caiping.

The Prince Guo's mansion was raided, and the servants and young men inside, along with the women of the Zhen family, were all kept under guard, waiting to find out who was involved and who had concealed the truth. It is likely that Cai Ping, who will later become Consort Ying, was among them.

When the princess consort is pregnant, it is natural to add people to the prince's side. This is almost an unwritten rule. The candidates can be bestowed by the empress or the third prince's mother, Consort Jing, or recommended by the princess consort herself. Alternatively, the princess consort can promote the palace maid who has been serving the third prince. It is nothing more than these three ways.

Since we have to add someone, let's add the one that Third Brother likes the most, so that he won't have any more thoughts about this or that in the future.

Hongzhao hurried ahead, it seemed that the only way to deal with the Empress Dowager was to make a move against her.

When Yinzhen saw his two sons come in together, he knew something was wrong. Looking at Hongshi's wide smile and Su Peisheng's cheerful expression, he figured it must be something good.

"Father, Huiyi is pregnant! Your son is going to be a father!" Hongshi rarely stood tall and proud in front of his father, and his voice was much louder than usual.

Hongzhao smiled and bowed to his father, the Emperor, in a deliberately affected tone, saying, "Your subject congratulates Your Majesty." He wasn't wearing his apricot-yellow robes today, but a red one, which was festive and suited the atmosphere. Upon hearing his words, Yinzhen stood up with a smile on his face.

"Good, Su Peisheng, reward him!"

He had just opened the storeroom and picked out quite a few items for Hongjin. Now he had also given Hongshi and Huiyi generous rewards; Yinzhen had really spent a lot of money today. But this was also a rare happy event in the palace these days, and he was finally feeling a bit more spirited.

As Hongshi happily left Yangxin Hall with a string of rewards, only the father and son remained in the hall.

Yinzhen still remembers the fear he felt just now, and a strange sense of guilt is creeping into his heart as he looks at his son in front of him.

Hongzhao saw his father beckoning to him mysteriously and whispering in his ear, "When you have children in the future, your father will definitely double the amount given today."

Hearing this seemingly random remark, Hongzhao raised an eyebrow. Was his father... afraid he'd be jealous? He certainly wouldn't be jealous of a nephew who wasn't even born yet, but he still nodded in agreement—"Then Father must remember, my youngest son is waiting for Father to name him."

"Alright! Father promises you, from now on Father will start thinking, and will definitely give him the best name in the world." Yinzhen didn't know how many more years he would have to wait for Hongzhao's child to be born, but looking at how Hongzhao's figure was starting to grow, he inexplicably saw the image of him when he was still a baby who could only babble.

He wondered if Hongzhao had a child, would he be as cute and obedient as he was when he was a child?